


Sometimes Just Being There is Enough

by Canadian_girl2000



Series: Whumptober 2020 [13]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Batfamily (DCU), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I realized I haven't called Jason 'Little Wing' for some time, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rogues (mentioned) - Freeform, Tim Drake Needs a Hug, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, You get a hug and you get a hug, time for me to fix that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:15:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28744569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canadian_girl2000/pseuds/Canadian_girl2000
Summary: Everybody needs someone to lean on.Five times Dick stayed with a member of his family and one time they all stayed with him.Whump"tober" day 13: "Stay"Whump"tober" day 16: Bedridden"Whump"tober" day 19: "Exhaustion"
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Damian Wayne, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Dick Grayson
Series: Whumptober 2020 [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946773
Comments: 14
Kudos: 110





	1. Everyone needs sleep - Dick & Tim

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Stay and exhaustion

It had been a stressful week. There had been a major breakout at Arkham Asylum on Monday and rounding up all the escapees had taken everyone’s time and effort. Bruce had split them into teams in hopes of rounding up the inmates more efficiently. Even then, five days later and they were still missing most of the supervillains that had escaped that night. On top of that, they still didn’t know how the breakout started, or who had initiated it.

Dick was only just returning to the Batcave at 4 in the morning after an exhausting night. It had taken Jason and him almost all night to track down Two-Face. They had multiple leads, and most of them had fallen through. But in the end, they found him and Two-Face was now on his way back to his cell at Arkham.

He parked his bike and slowly made his way up to the manor, conscious of the fact that if Alfred had seen him, he would have gotten the ‘no suits in the manor’ lecture once again. He didn’t really care though. It was 4 am and all he wanted was to take a nice warm shower and collapse on his bed.

There were no lights on, but Dick knew the manor like the back of his hand. He was careful not to make any noise, avoiding the steps he knew would creak under his weight. He poked his head into Damian’s room as he passed it, just to make sure the boy was actually sleeping. It was rare now, but sometimes Damian would sneak off even after Bruce had told him to call it a night.

Satisfied that his youngest brother was sleeping, he made his way to Tim’s room. As he approached it, he could see faint light flickering underneath the door. He let out a sigh.

Ever since the breakout, everyone had been working non-stop. However, Bruce and Tim took it to a whole new level. Dick knew that Bruce was still out, even though morning was nearing. Tim, on the other hand, had been told to go to bed hours ago. The teen had been working his ass off trying to find leads where there were none to be found and yet he had managed to help them find most of the inmates and 4 of the 8 escaped supervillains. The only problem was that Tim, like Bruce, was unable to stop. He would work for days on end, barely sleeping or eating sometimes and it worried Dick.

He knocked, even though he knew Tim wouldn’t hear it. He waited a moment, then opened the door. Tim was sitting on the floor at the foot of his bed in the dark, papers scattered around him. The monitor on his desk was turned on to the news channel. There was a thermos next to him and Dick didn’t need to be a detective to guess it was filled with coffee. Tim was typing away furiously at his laptop. He was so engrossed in what he was doing that he hadn’t even noticed Dick had come in.

“Tim?” Dick said, closing the door as he entered the room. Tim didn’t respond, nor did he seem to have heard him. Dick got closer and said his name again, gently placing a hand on his brother’s shoulder. The second Dick’s hand connected with his shoulder, Tim jumped out of his skin and sent his laptop tumbling to the ground. Tim blinked slowly and looked down at his fallen laptop before looking up at Dick. There were dark circles around his eyes.

Once he got over his initial shock, Tim picked up his laptop and glared at Dick. “What was that for?” 

Dick ignored his question. “How long has it been since you’ve slept?”

Tim opened his mouth to answer, but Dick cut in. “At least six hours”

Tim closed his mouth and his face screwed up in concentration as he tried to remember the last time he’d gotten at least six hours of sleep.

“Thursday” Tim answered after a moment.

“Tim. It’s Saturday night,” Dick remembered the time, “Scratch that. It’s Sunday morning.”

Tim blinked owlishly at him, then turned away. “It’s fine. I need to finish this.”

“Tim, you need to sleep. You’re barely even awake at all. You can finish later.”

“The Joker is still out there, Dick!” Tim exclaimed, “and so are Harley, Riddler and Scarecrow! We need to find them before anything really bad happens!”

“And we will. We will find them, Tim, it’s only a matter of time.” He knew that wouldn’t satisfy Tim, so he added, “Bruce is closing in on The Scarecrow's location last I heard, and Steph and Cass have a lead on Harley.” Dick reached over and closed the screen of Tim’s laptop. “We will find them, but only if we’re all well rested.”

He helped his brother to his feet and pulled him into a hug. “Everyone needs sleep, Tim.”

“Even Superman?” Tim muttered.

Dick let out a soft chuckle. “Yeah Timmy, even Superman.”

He lead Tim over to his bed and watched as the younger buried himself under the covers. He turned to leave, planning on doing the same, when a hand reached out and grabbed his.

“Stay?” Tim asked, voice muffled by his pillow.

Dick was still in his uniform, but he’d slept in it before. He climbed into bed next to Tim. If he smelt like sweat, Tim didn’t mention it.

He stayed awake until he heard Tim’s breathing even out, and only then did he let himself fall asleep.


	2. It’s okay to not be okay - Dick & Jason

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I really put the 'pro' in procrastinate.

It was very rare that Jason slept at the manor. When he did, however, he always had an excuse to go with it. ‘I didn’t feel like cooking anymore’ being the most common one, but he even used ‘didn’t feel like doing my own laundry’ a few times. Most times, Dick wasn’t there when he stayed over, usually at his own apartment in Blüdhaven. Though tonight was not the case.

Jason had come around dinner, claiming he wanted some of the lasagna Alfred was making for dinner. Then he stayed after patrol, claiming he was lazy and didn’t feel like driving back to his place. 

They’d gone to bed hours ago, but it seemed that tonight was one of the nights Dick would suffer a bout of insomnia. He lay awake in his bed, listening to the noises outside, waiting for sleep to eventually claim him.

He lifted his head off his pillow when he heard a sound coming from inside the manor instead. It sounded like footsteps. Too heavy to be Tim or Damian’s, but not Bruce’s either. Jason, then. He was probably going to get a glass of water or a 3 am snack.

He was just about to roll over when the footsteps stopped outside his door. He waited for it to open, but it never did. The footsteps retreated, only to come back a few minutes later, stopping once more at his door. The process was repeated two more times before Dick decided to just open the damn door himself. He practically rolled out of bed and made his way to the door when the footsteps paused once more. 

He opened it and there stood Jason, looking like a deer caught in headlights. He swallowed audibly before muttering a greeting.

Dick took in his brother’s appearance. He was dishevelled and in the dim light Dick could make out tear tracks on his face.

“Are you alright?” he asked, pulling Jason into his room and closing the door behind him.

“Yeah. I-I’m okay.” Jason said unconvincingly, frantically wiping at his face.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Dick asked calmly. He wanted to give Jason a hug, but he didn't want to catch him off guard.

“I said I was fine!” Jason snapped, glaring at Dick. It might have worked had Dick not seen the tear tracks.

Jason was stubborn. He never wanted to show any signs of weakness. Dick had to play this carefully.

“I was just about to put on a movie,” he said, changing the subject. “Want to join me?” 

Without waiting for an answer he crawled back into his bed, propping himself up with the pillows. He turned on the tv and took a minute to settle on a movie to watch.

He could feel Jason looking at him like he was crazy. Jason eventually let out a soft sigh and padded over to the other side of the bed, sitting next to Dick. They watched the movie in silence. Dick knew better than to pressure Jason into talking. He would when he was ready.

“Sorry,” Jason said fifteen minutes into the movie.

“Are you feeling better?” Dick asked, lowering the volume and turning to face Jason.

“I’m fine.” 

Dick held back an exasperated sigh. He didn’t need Jason thinking he was annoyed with him. 

“Jason, you don’t need to lie to me. I know you’re not okay.” Jason sucked in a breath and opened his mouth to protest but Dick continued before he could get any words out. “You think you have to be strong all the time. You think you’re not allowed to cry, to admit that you’re not okay. It’s okay to not be okay, Jason.” He opened his arms as an invitation, and Jason leaned into the embrace.

“I know. It’s just… sometimes my brain doesn’t agree.” Jason muttered, closing his eyes.

“You know you can always come to me if you want, right? I’ll always be here to listen, or help.” Dick said, pulling his brother closer.

“Yeah, I know. I was about to, but I didn’t want to wake you up.”

“That wouldn’t have mattered. If you need me, I'll always be here for you. No matter the time.”

“Thanks, Dick.” Jason pulled away from the hug and looked at him sheepishly. “Could I stay here tonight?”

“Of course you can”

They settled down once again, and Dick brought the sound back up. Jason leaned his head on Dick’s shoulder and let out a yawn.

“Good night Little Wing”

“ ‘Night Big Bird”

By the time the credits rolled, they were both sound asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter, I got caught up in writing another fic and that one just didn't seem to want to stop.


	3. Being Sick Sucks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Stay & bedridden

When Dick walked into the manor that morning, he could practically feel the tension in the air. Alfred had called him earlier with the hope that he would be able to diffuse the situation. From his brief conversation with Alfred, Dick had learnt that patrol had gone bad last night. Damian had gone out even though he’d been sick and it had resulted in a broken leg and a few bruised ribs. Bruce was understandably mad about that, but as the emotionally stunted man that he was, he hadn't handled the situation in the best way and now it was up to Dick to do something about it.

With a brief greeting to Alfred, who looked relieved to see him, he made his way to Damian’s room. On the way, he passed Bruce’s office and through the partially closed door he could just make out Bruce’s brooding form. Dick shook his head and let out a sigh. He would deal with Bruce later.

He knocked softly on Damian’s door, just in case he was sleeping, even though he knew it probably wasn't the case. Unsurprisingly, he received no answer. He slowly opened the door and stepped into the room.

“I said I was fine, Pennyworth.”

Damian was facing away from the door, buried under a bundle of blankets. His voice was scratchy and there was an abundance of used kleenexes on the floor near the garbage can where Damian had missed most of his throws.

Damian must have noticed that the person in his room hadn’t left yet because he slowly, with a low groan, turned around. When he noticed Dick he left out a soft ‘oh’, his glare softening for a moment before returning in full force.

“What do you want, Grayson?” he asked, flailing one arm towards the nightstand in an effort to grab another tissue.

Closing the door behind him, Dick walked over to the side of Damian’s bed and grabbed a tissue.

“I came to see how you were doing,” he said, handing Damian the kleenex. 

After a rather gross moment of Damian blowing his nose, his younger brother snapped “I’m fine,” emphasizing his statement by lobbing the tissue towards the garbage and missing it entirely. 

If there was one way that Damian and Bruce were similar, it was in their inability to be on bed rest and not be unbelievably grumpy. Dick had no doubt that if Alfred hadn’t called him over, Damian would have attempted to go out later tonight, broken leg and sickness be damned. However, Dick couldn’t exactly fault him without being a hypocrite. There had been numerous occasions, back when he had been Robin and desperate to prove himself to Batman, that he had gone on patrol while being sick. Hell, he still did it on occasion.

Dick knew Damian wasn’t mad at him, but at the situation instead. He knew he couldn’t berate Damian for going out sick either. He was sure Bruce already had, and that had simply resulted in both parties being mad. Bruce was stubborn and always got angry when he was really worried. 

In order to have Damian stay in tonight, Dick would practically have to restrain him.

Dick sat on the bed next to Damian, who was still glaring at him, though in his sickened state the glare wasn’t quite as powerful as it usually was.

“Would you like to talk about last night?” he asked, lifting his legs up and rolling so that he was practically laying next to his brother. 

“There is nothing to talk about. I failed to not get injured. It will not happen again.”

Dick knew Damian wasn’t referring to going out sick again.

“Do you remember when I was sick about a month ago, and I still went out on patrol?” he asked. Better to play this the long way.

A nod.

“And when I got hurt, you got mad at me for ignoring my own health. You demanded that I stay in bed until I got better and refused to let me leave your sight because you claimed I was unable to take care of myself. You said I was stupid for going on patrol sick.” Dick propped himself up on one elbow so he could look at Damian. “Damian, Bruce is feeling the same way you did then. He’s worried about you and mad that he didn’t notice you were sick.”

“Yes, but-”

“If I shouldn’t go out while sick, you shouldn’t either.”

“But I-”

Why was everyone in this family so stubborn?

“Let’s make a deal. I promise not to go out if I’m sick as long as you promise not to as well.”

Damian looked contemplative for a moment before he let out a sigh.

“I promise,” he said.

“Great! Now since you can’t go out tonight, do you mind if I stay with you? We can have a movie marathon or something,” Dick said, plopping back down.

“But you have patrol! Father will be mad,” Damian exclaimed.

“Meh, he’ll get over it. Ain’t much going on in Gotham anywho,” Dick waved a hand in the vague direction of the cave, “the others have it under control.” He grabbed the remote off the nightstand and turned to face Damian. “You’re the one who’s sick, so you get to pick what we watch.”

Damian snatched the remote from his hand and set about looking for something to watch, with the occasional sniffle. Dick knew that even though they’d both promised not to go out sick, it was only a matter of time before the promise was broken. He would have to talk to Bruce about Damian being sick, but that could wait. For now, he would spend time with his bedridden younger brother.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized while writing this that I have no idea how to write Damian. I hope I didn't get him too wrong.

**Author's Note:**

> Since I'm taking so long to do Whumptober, I'm going to combine a few of the other chapters in this fic to join up with some of the other prompts. So most of them will have another prompt combined with the 'stay' one.
> 
> Also, I'm writing a fic that takes place on Halloween (I'm aware it's February, but what is time at this point?). I need some help deciding what characters will dress up as. I've got my ideas for Jason, Babs and Tim already down, but I need help with figuring out costumes for Dick, Stephanie, Cass and Damian. Any suggestions would be welcome. You can write them in the comments, or send me an ask on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/canadian-girl2000
> 
> Thank you all for reading!


End file.
